Study: Rheumatoid Arthritis Sufferers Miss Fewer Work Days With Combination Treatment

People with rheumatoid arthritis miss fewer days of work if they receive early and aggressive treatment with a combination of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs rather than just one drug of this type.

As reported in the January issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a team of Finnish researchers compared the effectiveness of these two approaches in 162 patients in the early stages of rheumatoid arthritis.

The participants received either combination therapy involving sulfasalazine, methotrexate or hydroxychloroquine plus prednisolone or single therapy with one of these drugs with or without prednisolone.

At the beginning of the study, the participants were still working or at least available for work. During the next five years, the researchers obtained data on all sick leave and retirement involving the participants from available records. They compared the cumulative duration of all sick leaves that the study participants took.

The researchers found the duration of sick leave taken per year to be significantly lower in those who received combination therapy than in those who received single therapy: an average of 12.4 days versus 32.2 days.

Other sources: Arthritis & Rheumatism 2004 Jan; 50(1): 55-62